The Fall of the Cellist
by discordoctavia
Summary: Octavia has befallen some tough times after head trauma put her in the hospital. It also seems like her mental state is unstable. Her journey and those who help her through it are recounted here.
1. The Loss

The gray pony in the hospital bed slowly blinked open her eyes, her every movement causing her headache to pound more painfully. Suddenly a white unicorn with a bright blue mane appeared before her eyes screeching excitedly "Octavia you're awake! Are you okay? You hit your head really hard. Are they releasing you from the hospital? Will you make our next concert? I'm so glad you're awake!" This wave of excitement frightened the gray pony and she looked at the unicorn in confusion and ventured to say "Who are you?" All of the unicorn's excitement was immediately replaced with a gentle look of worry as she replied "I'm Vinyl Scratch, remember. I'm your best friend and the town DJ." "No." The pony shook her head "No, I don't remember. Please, leave me alone." She then turned over a feigned sleep.

Vinyl walked out disappointed and questioned the nurse about her friend's strange behavior. What she heard did not lift her spirits. Apparently Octavia had been the victim of severe head trauma which had put her in a coma and was now accompanied by, as the new turn of events signified, amnesia. Since Octavia was not a unicorn her mind would have to heal itself in the normal fashion. Vinyl turned to leave and as she trotted away the nurse called after her "And please don't perform any memory spells on her. They have awful consequences for Earth ponies!"

Sadly Vinyl appeared not to have heard.

* * *

I will update this story pretty frequently to counteract unavoidable cliff hangers. I hope you guys review it and give me all of your comments! Toodles!


	2. Mistakes

The next day the nurse announced another visitor for the gray pony who now called herself Octavia. She didn't know if that was her real name or not but it seemed right. Suddenly and enthusiastic Vinyl burst through the door. She started chattering about a library, spells and amnesia. Octavia waved her hooves for silence. When it happened she calmly asked the unicorn what she was talking about Vinyl took a deep breath and did so "Yesterday the nurse told me you had amnesia so I went to the library to help me find a book to get you better and I read all these spells about remembering and then I found one that would fix you right up!"

"That sounds… hopeful but maybe I should remember on my own. It seems… safer."

"But you have to remember fast! We have a concert tomorrow!"

"A concert? I play an instrument?"

"Yes! Now stay still so I can do this spell!"

"Wait just a…" Without warning Vinyl powered up her horn and touched Octavia's head with it. A flood of memories, knowledge and music entered Octavia's mind. She gasped at what she had forgotten and, as Vinyl jumped around the room as excited as a filly that had just gotten her cutie mark, Octavia turned a darker and darker shade of gray. Vinyl started pulling at Octavia with her teeth telling her they had to leave for the concert right away. Octavia turned away and mumbled "I don't care…"

* * *

I'm really sorry for the short chapters everypony. I promise they get longer. Toodles!


	3. The Meeting

The nurse burst in as the crestfallen Vinyl left. Upon seeing Octavia's darkened state she slowly backed out of the room and ran for a doctor. As the doctor entered the dark and gloomy room he noted that Octavia had in fact turned a darker shade of gray. The doctor had several ideas on what had happened but realized that playing the blame game wouldn't help anypony and that he should just have Octavia be moved in with another pony. Perhaps one of the attempted suicides, they were always very caring ponies just befallen on lonely times.

After several days the unicorn sharing a room with Octavia had told her all about herself even though Octavia was reclusive.

Soon there came a surprise to the room they shared. A pegasus had come to visit the unicorn, Twilight. As Octavia observed the two she noticed something strange. The pegasus seemed to be a bit indecisive about the color of his coat. It would fade back and forth from a dark dark gray like her own to a pleasing light brown. The more Octavia watched the more confused she became. This strange pony was acting just like Octavia was. He absolutely insisted that he had always been this gray just like Octavia did even though Vinyl insisted that she hadn't been whenever she came to visit. As Twilight fell asleep the pegasus started to leave and Octavia knew what she had to do. She quietly called after him. He looked confused but silently walked over to her bed. As he looked at her he became quite shocked, she was exactly the same gray as he was. He told her his observation and she acknowledged it gently asking if perhaps he knew what had caused them to be like this.

* * *

Oh my! Did i just introduce new characters? I'm terribly sorry but it does make the plot interesting. It seems like today will be a day of posting! But be warned, I'm not the world's fastest typer. Toodles!


	4. Realizations

The pegasus looked scared and started shaking his head "No, no, no, no, noooo… We had him contained. This was never supposed to happen again. How did you become this way! He roughly shook her shoulders than sat down with a huff. "Explain." Octavia sighed and recounted her story.

As far as she could remember she had always been this color. She had been at one of Vinyl's parties and a falling wub had hit her head, knocking her out. She had woken up in the hospital a week later with amnesia. Vinyl had used a memory spell and fixed it but now something seemed different. Instead of wanting to be nice and polite like she usually did she wanted to be rude and pushy.

The pegasus considered this then walked over to Twilight and used his hoof to tap on her shoulder until she woke up. She seemed happy to see him then saw his troubled face. She asked what was wrong and finally revealed the strange pegasus' name "Doctor" He told her of Octavia's predicament, recounting the whole story. As soon as the Doctor came to the part about the memory spell Twilight froze. "A memory spell? For amnesia?" Octavia nodded causing Twilight to go into full on Twilight panic mode. "That's not the cure for amnesia! If the afflicted pony isn't a unicorn you have to let their mind heal by itself or the sudden memory input causes…" Twilight looked from the Doctor to Octavia and back again her voice trailing off "Discord… Syndrome…" At this Twilight could do nothing more but burst into tears. The Doctor was instantly by her side, whipping something small and silver out of his saddle bag and putting it too his lips. A sweet symphony issued forth and reached Octavia's ears. As the music flowed on Octavia turned a lighter and lighter shade of gray until she was almost back to normal. Then Vinyl burst through the door holding Octavia's cheapest cello. It was a simple learning instrument but the sight of it made dam Octavia had been using to hold back her tears fall to pieces.

* * *

Well would you look at that. Octavia is mentally and emotionally unstable and Discord Whooves plays an instrument (though I'm not telling which) Sadly i think that will be all for today. Toodles!


	5. Home Beckons

She jumped out of bed and snatched the cello from Vinyl. She remembered how solid the bow felt in her hand and the cello would lie against her while she played. She sighed and reached deep into her memory finding her most magnificent piece of music. As she started the Doctor picked up on the harmony and the beautiful duet caused Octavia to fully become herself again. An actual doctor walked in to see the commotion, noticed Octavia's color and immediately pronounced her fully healed. The nurses bustled her out of the hospital as fast as they could. The Doctor and Twilight slowly followed as this had been Twilight's scheduled release date anyways. Octavia started to leave the hospital but then realized something and turned back calling out to the Doctor "You never told me what instrument you play!"

"The piccolo!" he called back then paused for a moment as if thinking "Maybe you'd like to come over one day and duet?"

"Sure, I'll compose something new for it" She then started to walk away from the hospital. With every step she took away from the hospital her gray coat turned darker and darker. The Doctor started after her but Twilight put out her hoof and stopped him. The Doctor looked at her then sighed and turned around to walk her home.

Octavia was soon at home and back to her discarded state. Her small condo on the edge of town had lost a little bit of its homey feeling but she knew it was still hers. As she entered she was hit with an all too familiar mix of smells: rosin, wood, paper, ink, biscuits, coffee and something that could only be described as the scent of music. She started opening blinds and lighting candles here and there. When she had finished she sat down at her desk and started composing, intent on making her new piece before going to visit the Doctor.

* * *

I would like to send a great big thank you to J25 the Arch King. He has been the ONLY person to review my chapters and i really appreciate it. I realize its had some visitors and views and such, but someone who diligently posts a review on each chapter? Thanks dude your a big help for my inspiration to actually post these here. I keep getting afraid that everypony will hate them but you show that at least one does. Also before i forget the next chapter will be both long and slightly gruesome. Be warned.


	6. Dark Turns

At this point a week had passed since anypony had even glimpsed Octavia and Twilight was worried. She had been researching Discord Syndrome and had learned that the ponies that had it would often shut themselves away in their homes. She also knew that this was terrible for their mental health. She begged the Doctor to go see Octavia and he reluctantly agreed. Before he left he grabbed his trusty piccolo and put it into his saddlebag in case Octavia needed to be calmed back into a normal state again.

When he arrived at her condo he immediately knew something was wrong. All of the windows had been painted black and boarded up and the door had been nailed shut. The house showed no signs of life what-so-ever and all of Octavia's neighbors said they were worried because the almost constant sound of soothing cello music coming from the condo had ceased. He knocked on the door and when nopony answered he managed to talk one of the bigger Earth pony stallions into kicking it down for him. As he walked inside he saw sheaves of music scattered all over the floor, the notes blotted out with large amounts of black ink. All of the rooms he passed through seemed to have the same feeling of anger and depression. After going about the condo a few times he found Octavia's inner sanctum. There he saw a both welcome and gruesome sight. There was Octavia surrounded by blazing candles looking as if she hadn't eaten in days.

She was writing sheet music furiously, her eyes surrounded by dark circles. The Doctor bent down and at one of the sheets of music scattered on the floor. Instead of the bright black notes and markings he was used to they were a dark reddish brown. As he looked at Octavia writing he noticed something strange. She had plenty of quills and a single sharp blade but no ink. As he stepped forward to get a closer look he stumbled over something.

It was a cello. Or what used to be one. It lay on the ground. Obliterated. Shards of expensive wood lay on the ground amid strings that had been hammer flattened strings and fine tuning mechanisms. Amid shattered pieces of ivory and ebony. Amid a bent out of shape end pin and mutilated tuners. A little further on lay another scene of devastation. A small pile of white hair cut into snips lay on the ground littered with small gears and the finest mother of pearl inlay money could buy. Slivers of previously octagonal bow lay among the ruins like tombstones for the obliterated bow hair. As the Doctor inspected the carnage Octavia suddenly looked up at the Doctor with a piercing glare and motioned for him to come and see what she was doing.

**(A warning to everypony! At this point it gets a bit gruesome but only for a little while.)**

As he was walking over Octavia suddenly she picked up her knife in her teeth and placed it on her wrist. As the Doctor watched in horror she sliced neatly into her skin and let the blood flow free. Then she put the knife down and picked up her quill dipping it into the fresh blood. When the quill had enough blood she continued writing her music. Aghast the Doctor watched as she slowly ran out of blood in her quill and picked up her knife again. He knew what he had to do. As she started to put the knife to her wrist he grabbed her arm and pulled it away from her wrist. As he did so it left a gash on her face. She struggled to get free but the Doctor knew better than to let her go. As he kept a hold on her arm her reached into his bag and snatched out his piccolo. He started to play. It wasn't a song just some simple improvisation and scales. To his surprise that was all that it took. Blood loss over the past few days had caused her to become weak. She fainted in his arms and turned to a more natural color. He picked her up and slung her over his back walking her all the way back to Twilight's library. When they arrived Twilight went to work wrapping Octavia's wrists in bandages and stitching up her face. She also made a potion to help Octavia's body deal with the loss of blood. About halfway through this process she regained conscious but immediately fell asleep. As they discussed what they should do with her they watched her coat grow lighter and darker as she dreamt.

* * *

Ahh my (possible) fans this was my longest chapter so far! It was good to write something a bit more gruesome and morbid. although I'm generally a very Pinkie Pie like person i do have a (slightly) dark imagination. I hope you did enjoy this longer installment! Toodles!


	7. In Which Things Seem Better

For days Twilight and the Doctor watched over the comatose Octavia. After a few more days the transfer her into the zero room of the Tardis to keep her in stable condition. Some days Vinyl would come and visit and bring her quietest speakers to play dubstep at Octavia's bedside, hoping the music would remind her of all the fun times they had had and make her wake up. Then after several weeks had gone by Twilight walked into the zero room to find Octavia missing. She alerted the Doctor and they started hunting for her all throughout the Tardis.

*Octavia*  
Octavia was lying in the middle of the Doctor's music, crying and bleeding. After waking up in the zero room with no memory of getting there she had completely freaked out. She had raced through the hallways, scraping and bruising herself on corners and tables. After her major freak out she had found herself lost in a maze of rooms. Then her ears had picked up the soft sound of classical music. She had followed it to the music room and seeing all the instruments had calmed down and fallen on the floor.

*Doctor and others*.  
After several hours of not finding Octavia they regrouped in the control room. The discussed places she could be and then Vinyl noticed the Doctor's picollo sitting on a table. "Doctor" she asked " Do you have other instruments?"  
"Why of course they're all in my. Music... room..." he answered epicly facehooving almost as soon as he had finished the sentence. "C'mon everypony. I know where Octavia is" they all troop to the music room and find Octavia now almost unconscious. Twilight picked up Octavia with her magic and carried her to the library. When they arrived she put a memory spell on Octavia so she wouldn't remember her time in the Tardis. Twilight also filly proofed the library, ensuring that Octavia couldn't hurt herself. She then left the house to go to get some gems for Spike.

* * *

Ugh. This took forever to write. Oh well! Totally worth it! But in all seriousness: APPRECIATE THIS OR DIE! Toodles!


	8. Doctor's Story

When Octavia awoke for a second time she was greeted by an unfamiliar sight. Books. Rows upon rows of books. For a moment she sat there dazed trying to gather in her surroundings. After a while her muddled brain comprehended where she was. She was in Twilight's library. As she wandered around she happened upon a section of books about music. She tried to grab on off the self about famous cellists but she couldn't. She tried a different book, that one wouldn't budge either. Frustrated she ran around the library trying to pick up things. Nothing would budge. Finally she gave up and burst into tears.

After what seemed like hours but what might have only been a few minutes the Doctor found her there. He sat down next to her and told her a story. The story was about a pegasus who wasn't really a pegasus. He had two hearts and couldn't ever die. He travelled around in a time machine saving all the scared and vulnerable ponies in the world who didn't have anypony else there to save them. One day he went on an epic mission to stop Discord from hurting anypony ever again. But it went terribly wrong. He managed to trap Discord but at a great cost. He had stopped caring. He no longer went out to save anypony and just hid in his time machine. One day though he found his special somepony. She helped him get back to normal and he felt better. Sometimes when the pegasus was sad or angry or frustrated the darkness that Discord had inflicted on him would overtake him once again.

The Doctor finished his story and looked down. It had felt good to tell someone else his story even if Octavia didn't know it had been him that the story was about. He heard a light snore come from her and laughed to himself. He hadn't known his life was that boring. Still he was glad her color was back to normal. He waited with Octavia until Twilight came back and told her what had happened. She looked at Octavia and told the Doctor that maybe Octavia should stay with her for a while so that Octavia could be monitored while she recovered. The Doctor agreed on one condition. Twilight would un-filly proof the house. Twilight agreed and they parted their separate ways.

* * *

Now you might be asking yourself: Is Octavia better? Why this chapter about the Doctor? Does Octavia know what being discorded is? Where is Spike? Where is Discord? My response to these questions: All in good time my little ponies. All in good time. Meanwhile… I'll have another story being put up in the next week or so. Toodles!


	9. Detective Work

Twilight awoke Octavia the next day and showed her around the library. Soon Octavia found herself back at the section of books about music. She found the book on classical composers she had wanted yesterday and was soon curled up in a bean bag reading.  
Twilight on the other hand was busy trying to find reversal memory spells. She found a few in different books but until she knew which one Vinyl had used she couldn't do anything. Then something clicked in Twilight's mind. Vinyl had no formal magical training. She had no books of spells in her home. She would have had to have come to the library for a book on memory spells! She knew what she had to go. " Octavia!" She called out. "Yes" came the muffled reply, as if the owners nose was stuck in a book. Twilight immediately recognized the section of the library Octavia was in and smiled to herself while replying "I'm off to get Spike back from Rarity's where he's been staying."  
"That's nice..."  
Twilight trotted over to the Carousel Boutique and knocked politely on the door then waited for it to open. Turns out she didn't have to wait. The door was immediately whisked open by a well groomed Spike. Upon seeing Twilight he looked crestfallen. He started to call out to Rarity that she had a customer but Twilight stopped him "Actually Spike, I'm here for you" Spike sighed but turned around and disappeared for a second. He soon came back trailing Rarity behind him and carrying his tuxedo. Twilight thanked her for letting Spike stay and that they would visit soon. As they walked home she asked him if he remembered a pony named Vinyl Scratch coming in the library for a book on memory spells. He stopped and thought for a second, "hmmm... oh ya! She took out memory spells and their basics for beginners. Easiest one I could find. I did do the right thing? Right Twi?" His excited chatter came to an abrupt end. "What happened Twi?" Twilight sighed knowing this conversation couldn't end well. "Spike you know Octavia?" He nodded solemnly and she continued. "Well she was at a party and got knocked into a coma. When she woke up she had a really bad case of amnesia. Vinyl apparently got a little impatient with the healing process and it's... bad."  
"How bad?" Spike asked. To this Twilight only shook her head sadly from side to side. When they got home Twilight grabbed the book Spike had mentioned and flipped through it looking for a reversal spell. She was going so fast she missed it and had to go back. She read over it quickly then went to find Octavia.  
When she found Octavia she explained the plan to remove the discordation, leaving out the fact that she would once again lose her memory. Octavia agreed so Twilight put her horn on Octavia's forehead and preformed the spell. They were thrown apart by a bright flash of white light.

* * *

Ha! Another chapter! This one isn't all full of Octavia as the others but the next one will be exciting. If I finish typing it up that is... Toodles!


End file.
